Image via Kyle Gordon
Michael McKinney understands the cultural importance of Kreayshawnâs âGucci Gucci.â
Kyle Gordon is as confused as you are. The Brooklyn comedian had a viral moment earlier this year when a goofy and loving Eurodance parody blew up social media and crash-landed a Jonas Brothers concert. That track is, fundamentally, a joke. Itâs a send-up of, and love letter to, Eurodance, with each line and synth hit engineered to sound like itâs from 1997. But itâs not unlike what Gordon was doing before, either. Prior to the explosion of âPlanet of the Bass,â the comedian and musician cut his teeth on the Brooklyn open-mic circuit, piecing together genre parodies and quick-hitting jokes over an acoustic guitar. Suddenly, he went from being a comedian and aspiring television writer to being DJ Crazy Times, a memetic MC from a dozen Eastern European countries. Itâs a profound whiplash, and it prompts the question: what now?
Fortunately, Gordon already had that sorted. Next March, the comedian and musician will release his debut LP. Entitled Kyle Gordon Is Great, it takes his musical-comedy creations and polishes them up, giving them a full-band makeover in the process. Throughout the album, he uses genre as a springboard for comedy, leaning into a whole range of styles and sketching out wholehearted caricatures and character studies: the country-rocker who canât quit the open road; the pop-punk frontman whose life is really, truly, horrible; the sort-of-twee pop musician who wonât stop shrinking into her boyfriendâs arms.
Last month, we had a chance to catch up with Kyle Gordon, exploring how stand-up and Christopher Guest have influenced his work, how Eurodance rocked his world in the â90s, how he uses tropes and sketches in his comedic work, and Austin Powers.